


Soul Of The Mountain

by Starkitters



Category: Celeste (Video Game), Soul Eater
Genre: Addison is going through some shit, Celeste tries to help in its weird mountainy way, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-18
Updated: 2020-09-01
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:42:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24242995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starkitters/pseuds/Starkitters
Summary: Ever since she joined the EAT class, Addison Gratt had begun doubting herself and her abilities as a meister. When Lord Death sends her and her partner Neva Williams on a mission to investigate strange happenings at Mount Celeste, she’ll be forced to face these uncertainties whether she likes it or not. After all, you can’t run from your reflection.
Relationships: Addison & Neva
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	1. Prologue: Celeste Mountain - A Special Assignment From Lord Death?

_No matter how many times Addison entered it, the Death Room always seemed to have a calming feel to it. Which was ironic, considering the fact that the God of Death itself resided in this room._

_“Any idea what he could want us for?” Her weapon partner, Neva, asked. Addison shook her head._

_The two had been summoned by Shinigami-sama, and neither of them had any idea as to why. He was cryptic like that. They made their way down the guillotine-lined walkway, walking up to the platform where the reaper’s mirror was located. They stopped in front of it, Addison moving to write on its reflective surface. “42-42-564, whenever you want to knock on Death’s door…”_

_She stepped back as the mirror began to ripple, a familiar figure appearing in the reflection._

_“You there sir? This is sword meister Addison checking in.”_

_“Hi! Hello, How are ya? It’s great to see you two again!” Shinigami's chipper voice rang out. The reaper summoned his gloves, leaning forward and clapping his hands together. “Thank you both for coming on such a short notice! I hope I didn’t interrupt anything?”_

_“It’s no problem,” Neva responded coolly. “What exactly did you want to see us for?”_

_“A good question!” the reaper replied. “Have either you ever heard of Mount Celeste?”_

_Weapon and meister glanced at each other, before shaking their heads. “This is the first I’ve heard of it,” Addison stated. “Why, what about it?”_

_The Death God hummed, tilting his head. “One of our informants in Canada has reported strange things happening around the mountain, and we have reason to believe it's because of Asura's awakening.”_

_The pair’s eyes widened. Ever since the Kishin had been awakened, things had been going wrong left and right._

_"Strange how?" Neva asked, raising a brow._

_Shinigami swayed from side to side for a moment, saying nothing. He then threw up his hands, giving the duo a shrug. "Dunno~! That's what I need you two to figure out."_

_The duo nodded. They were a little confused at how little information they had been given, but weren't about to question him._

_“Right.”_

_“We won’t let you down sir!” Addison said, giving the reaper a mock salute._

* * *

[(♫)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-z2Dae71FE)

It was one day ago that Shinigami-sama had assigned the mission.

As of now, weapon and meister were hiking up a snowy trail that would take them to the foot of the mountain. It wasn’t a difficult trek, just a test of endurance that had a few potholes littered here and there. Snow covered forests surrounded the area, and you could see the distant peaks of the mountain ranges of the northwest, Mount Celeste towering above all of them. The only thing that showed humans had once been here were a few cracked lamps that lined the sides of the trail.

Addison had to admit, this was one of the prettier mission locations they'd been too. A particularly harsh gust of wind blew by, causing the young meister to shiver.

...She could do without the cold though.

Addison’s eyes wandered across the snowy fields as she wondered what had been going on. Lord Death hadn’t told them _anything_ about what to expect on this mission. Not even researching the Mountain helped, as all they found were reports of people dying from the climb and a closing notice for some hotel.

Addison pursed her lips, thoughts jumbling together.

Would they even be able to handle this? They hadn’t told anyone what the mission entailed, just that they had one and would probably be back in a few days. 

What if they _couldn’t_ handle it.

What if she wasn’t strong enough.

What if they died on the way up.

What if—

“Earth to Addison, are you there?” Neva asked, waving a hand in front of their meister’s face.

Addison blinked, snapping back to reality. “Huh?”

“You’ve been staring into space for the past five minutes, are you good?”

The meister sighed. “Yeah, I’m fine...just worried is all. We have no idea what we’re getting into.”

“Lord Death definitely wasn’t the clearest,” Neva agreed. “Can’t be any worse than what we’ve faced so far though.”

“Don’t say that,” Addison groaned.

The trail eventually transitioned into a narrow, albeit short, walkway along the face of a cliff. A low rumble from above caused the two to pause, making them glance up. A large boulder had somehow dislodged itself from its place in the stone and was now tumbling down the side of the wall with a large amount of snow and ice following after it.

They sprinted across the remainder of the path, making it to the other side just as the mini-avalanche crashed down. Weapon and meister stared at the now-impassible trail, before turning to each other.

"That was way too close," Addison commented.

" _Way_ too close," Neva echoed.

They quickly left the area before anything else decided to fall on them.

After about ten more minutes of walking, the duo eventually came upon a cabin situated near the edge of the forest. Its shingles were covered in a thick layer of snow and some of the wooden siding was chipped. A few planters sat underneath the windows. If they had to pick a word to describe it, rustic would be the best choice.

An old woman was out front, carrying a batch of firewood into the house.

Neva leaned closer to Addison, lowering their voice to a whisper. "Lord Death didn't say anything about someone living out here!"

"I know, I know!" she whispered back. "Let's just keep going, she probably won't even notice—"

"Well hello there! I haven't seen anyone come up through these parts for a very long time!"

And you jinxed it. Nice going, Adds.

Ignoring the pointed look her partner was giving her, Addison turned around and plastered a smile on her face. "Sorry if we bothered you Ma'am, we seem to have gotten a little lost. Is this the mountain trail?"

She bumped Neva in the arm, nodding for them to follow. Now that the two were a bit closer, they could see the woman had curly grey hair and wore a dark green sweater with brown pants. She held a cane in her left hand.

"Oh, it's no trouble at all!" The old woman replied. "It's just a bit further, there's a bridge that'll take you right to it."

"Ah, thank you!"

As the pair began walking away, Addison paused. She turned around, looking back at the old woman.

"Um, before we go… you might want to do something about your driveway." She stated. "The ridge collapsed and we barely made it across in time."

The woman barked out a laugh. It echoed throughout the empty space, causing a bird that had settled on the roof to let out a startled caw.

"Uh, what's so funny?" Neva asked.

"If my _'driveway'_ almost did you in, the mountain may be a bit too much for you, dearie," she replied.

Addison refrained from grimacing. She didn't come all this way just to turn back now. She didn’t come here to be put down by an old lady. And she definitely didn't like the fact that the woman's gaze seemed to be fixed on her.

 _'She knows. The old bat knows!'_ The little voice inside her head made itself known. _‘We need to turn around, we can’t handle this! We’re not mountain climbers!’_

Addison frowned, pushing away the doubts that had surfaced again.

"While we appreciate the concern, Ma’am, I think we'll be okay."

"Well, suit yourselves," the old woman chuckled. "But you should know, Celeste is a strange place," her eyes widened, almost seeming to stare into the duo's souls. "You might see things, things you ain't ready to see."

Addison gulped. "We'll, um, keep that in mind..."

Addison grabbed Neva by the arm, quickly walking away from the probably-crazy-old-lady and continued down the trail, her laughter echoing from behind them.

The bridge wasn’t too far, just a minute or two away from the old cabin. The grey stone it was made of was well worn, cracks covering the majority of its surface. It was supported by several wooden pillars, many of which looked like they would splinter at any moment.

“There’s absolutely no way this thing is going to hold.”

Addison frowned, staring at the rickety old bridge. “It’s not like we have much of a choice, Niv,” She commented. “This is our only way across.”

The duo stepped onto the bridge, wincing when it groaned at their weight. It shifted as they continued to inch across, the stones moving way too much for their liking. Once they had gotten a certain distance away, the movement seemed to lessen. They let out a sigh of relief.

“See? That wasn’t so—”

_CRACK!_

The two froze, slowly looking at each other with mounting horror.

One of the pillars had snapped, causing the bridge to tremble under the weight of the two DWMA students. The stones they had just crossed seconds before fell away, collapsing into the canyon below.

_“Run!”_

Not wanting to die an early death, they booked it across the remainder of the bridge. 

It seemed to be crumbling at a faster rate now, a section in front of them falling apart as soon as they got near. They leaped across, Addison pulling Neva up after they stumbled, continuing to race to safety. They were so close.

Another section, this time larger, fell up ahead. Neva leaped across, scrambling across the remaining stone and making it to solid, non-shaky ground. Addison followed suit, just barely making it. 

She gripped the edge of the bridge, preparing to pull herself up. The stone collapsed before she got a chance.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl.

It was like she was suspended in midair, hyper aware of everything happening. She couldn’t move. She couldn’t even scream. Her mind had gone fuzzy, like it couldn’t register what was happening.

She could see the pieces of the bridge fall, hearing them crash into the canyon below. 

She heard Neva call to her.

She could feel her heartbeat in her ears.

_She was going to die._

A small raven circled overhead, before swooping down and settling itself on the other side of the chasm. It was the same raven from the old woman’s cabin. It pecked at the ground for a moment, possibly looking for food, before looking directly at Addison. The raven cawed.

Something in Addison's soul pulsed. She didn't know _what_ it was, but it was _something_ and she knew _she had to use the something or she would_ die _._

She prodded at the feeling, gasping when she suddenly felt a surge of energy. It flooded through her body, vision flashing pink for a moment.

...and suddenly she was tumbling into the snow face first, safely on the other side of the chasm. The bird let out a startled caw before flying away. 

Time sped up again.

The feeling dissipated, leaving her with a dull tingling sensation. She was crouched on the ground, breaths ragged and trembling, but she was _alive_.

"Holy shit, Adds!” Neva sprinted over to their meister, crouching beside her in the snow. “Are you okay!?"

Addison didn't answer for a long moment. She turned around, staring at the now collapsed bridge with wide eyes. "I..." she let out a shaky breath. "Yeah, I'm fine."

 _Liar,_ the little voice in the back of her mind hissed. _You almost got yourself killed._

Neva looked at her in worry, their brow furrowing. “Are you sure? You literally just fell off a bridge!” 

“Eh, we’ve been through worse,” Addison stated, giving her partner a shrug. She stood up, brushing the snow off herself. "We should get going. We need to find a place to set up camp before it gets any darker."

“If you’re sure, Adds…”

Celeste Mountain loomed ahead as the pair set off again. It stood tall and intimidating, light reflecting off the snow in vibrant blues and purples. It was a challenge. One that Addison was now more than willing to take.

_I can do this._


	2. Chapter 1: The Forsaken City - Addison The Human Pinball?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Addison learns a neat ability, and Neva becomes even more concerned for their meister as a result.

The walk down the rest of the trail was quiet. It was becoming all too clear to the pair that there was something... _off_ about Celeste.

Addison frowned, kicking a rock in a frustrated huff. It launched forward, clattering down the trail before falling into the snow a little ways ahead.

For some odd reason, the meister had found herself growing more and more restless. The strange tingling feeling from before hadn't disappeared, instead growing increasingly more uncomfortable. She'd been fidgeting the whole walk, trying to find _some way_ to alleviate the feeling with very poor results.

She kicked another rock, harder this time. It didn't help.

Neva, who had been watching this the whole time, paused in their trek. They turned to their meister, raising an eyebrow. “Girl, are you okay? You’ve been fidgeting a lot. Like, _a lot._ ”

She let out a groan, shaking out her leg. “I don't _know._ There's this weird tingly feeling around my chest that hasn't gone away—" she thumped on the area around her ribcage—"and it's getting really uncomfortable.”

"Is it—"

"No, it is _not_ my feelings for Julian." She deadpanned. Julian, specifically Julian Stein, was Addison's boyfriend. They'd gotten together around the time of the DWMA anniversary, and have been happily dating since then. "You know just as well as I do that we figured those out."

The weapon shrugged, smirking. "Could have fooled me."

Addison said nothing, glaring at her partner.

"Relax, I was just teasing," Neva replied, raising their hands in surrender. "I was going to ask if it might be left over adrenaline from the fall. We're always pretty jittery after a fight, maybe it's a similar case here."

Addison sighed. "Yeah, you're probably right," she eventually agreed, still not quite convinced. "It should pass eventually."

* * *

[(♫)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8OHSXvneOE)

An hour later, and the feeling still had not passed. In fact, it had gotten _worse._

Addison now found herself bouncing on the balls of her feet whenever the duo stopped to take a breather, or shaking her hands while they were walking. When they passed by a frozen lake, Addison had half a mind to slide across it, but decided strongly against it. She couldn't see that ending well.

About a few more minutes into their trek, a ruined city appeared over the snowy horizon.

Addison blinked, moving to rub her eyes. "Niv? You seeing this...?"

The weapon nodded, staring wide-eyed at the city ahead. "Jeez, this place is full of surprises, isn't it?" they commented. "Starting to understand why no one really talks about this place, nobody would believe them unless they saw it for themselves..."

Addison nodded, shifting her backpack for the umpteenth time. The feeling had grown unbearable.

"Hey, Niv? What's that thing you say right before you do something irresponsible?"

Neva gave their partner a look. "Addison, what in Death's name are you planning."

The meister just gave a sheepish grin. Without another word, she broke into a sprint and took off down the rest of the trail, leaving her partner in the dust.

"Wh— _hey!_ Adds, wait up!"

Addison ignored her partner's call, running into one of the snowy streets and leaping over a small patch of fallen icicles. She couldn't ignore the restlessness any more. She just wanted it to go away. She just wanted it to stop. If that meant recklessly frolicking through a forsaken city like a moron, then so be it.

Feet thumping against the pavement, she grabbed onto a lamp post and used it to swing herself in another direction. She practically flew forward, regaining her footing and taking off again. She eventually came to a stop near what might have been an ice cream shop, leaning the wall.

The feeling had lessened. Not by much, but it had lessened.

Panting hard, Addison desperately tried to figure out what was wrong. She was perfectly fine when she and Neva had first arrived. They had followed the mountain trail with little to no problems, only running into trouble when they passed by the old woman's house and then...

The bridge.

This all started at the damn bridge.

Whatever had happened back there was the cause of this, it had to be.

The meister furrowed her brows. She thought back to the moment, the _terrifying_ moment, when she fell. She had done... something. There was a strange burst of power, and then _bam!_ No more risk of knocking on Shinigami-sama's door. Maybe she had to do whatever it was again?

She frowned, rubbing at her chest. The strange pressure was still there, like it was waiting for her to do something. Trying to focus in on the feeling, she poked at her soul's wavelength. 

Nothing happened.

She frowned, poking at it again. Maybe she needed to try manipulating it like a soul menace—?

_"Woah!"_

Addison suddenly found herself shoved forward in a bright flash of pink, grunting when she slammed into a pole hard enough to knock some snow off of it. She blinked.

Aside from her now frozen face, she wasn't hurt. Well, not _badly_. There was still a dull ache where her nose had gotten the full force of the pole, but that was it. It wasn't broken. If anything, the strange dash had somehow cushioned the blow.

Furrowing her brows, she focused on the feeling—which had miraculously lessened—again. Maybe she could control the direction she went? She flew backwards this time, falling into the snow and forming an Addison-shaped crater in the white powder.

She tried again.

This time she shot up into the air at an angle, before landing into the snow on her back. The feeling had lessened even more.

A grin split across Addison's face.

With an enthusiastic laugh, she launched off the ground and began bouncing around the site like a human pinball. Each time the meister went to push off the ground, her hair would flash a vibrant, almost glowing shade of pink, a trail of the same color left behind as she zipped forward. As soon as she touched the ground again, her hair would return to it's normal shade of blue.

By the time Addison had stopped leaping around, her face was flushed and her messy hair had become even more wild. _Stars were quite literally in her eyes_ , and a large grin was on her face. She turned around to launch off again, only to freeze.

Neva stood in the entrance of the alleyway, staring with wide eyes.

"...Hey, Niv."

"Hey..." Neva said slowly. "What are you doing...?"

"... Leaping around the alley?"

"I can see that," Neva replied. "Why were you doing it though?"

The meister grinned sheepishly. "I… uh, figured out how to make the feeling go away...?"

"And you had to run off, _into a potentially dangerous city, **alone** ,_ to do that?" Neva continued, raising an eyebrow.

"... Yeees?"

The weapon just groaned, pressing a hand to their face, "For Death's sake Addie..."

"I'm sorry, okay? The weird chest feeling became too much and I just couldn't take it anymore..." the girl grumbled, walking over to her partner as she shook the snow out of her hair. "It seems like a useful ability though. It might help exploring this place."

"And how exactly will it help?" Neva questioned, raising a brow.

"Dunno! We'll find out though, you never know when you'll have to do some parkour," Addison chirped, walking out of the alley. "Come on, let's get moving."

The weapon sighed, shaking their head as they followed after Addison.

* * *

After that little fiasco, the duo continued to traverse through the empty city. Addison ended up being right about her strange new ability being helpful, as they eventually found that the main trail had been blocked off by a large crane that had been covered in snow and rubble from a collapsed building. This resulted in them figuring out another way up the mountain.

This 'other way up' essentially meant Addison did a mix of dashing—what she decided to call the ability— and climbing over literally anything and everything she could find while Neva was in weapon form. Needless to say, the weapon now had one more reason to worry about their adrenaline junkie of a meister.

The city itself was a crumbling, frozen wreck. Buildings were an odd mix between semi-completed structures and metal scaffolding, and very few looked finished. Those that did have a semblance of completion had that illusion ruined by the faded yellow construction equipment sitting next to it, as well as their many cracked and shattered windows.

Some of the buildings had even been built into the side of the mountain, making use of some of the natural caves that could be found.

Interestingly enough, the entire city still had power somehow. Most of the buildings were lit up from the inside, fluorescent lights shining down on missing wares and phantom customers. Traffic lights blinked in automated patterns, directing vehicles that didn't exist. It was more than a little unsettling.

Neva peered into what might have been some kind of furniture store, due to the large sign out front promoting some 20% off sale on couches. The entire store was barren with no products to be seen anywhere, all of the displays empty.

"Jeez, this place is a ghost town," they mumbled.

Addison jumped down from the roof of the building, landing next to her partner with a nod. She had been scanning the city with her soul perception just to see if there actually were any other people around. Not a soul could be seen for miles, the only ones that were visible being the few animals that made their homes here.

"Yeah… It definitely doesn't _feel_ like one, though." She replied.

Neva furrowed their brow. "... How so?"

"Well..." Addison worked her jaw for a moment, trying to put it into words. "... Most of the abandoned places we've gone to feel… I dunno, darker? Like something _really_ bad happened there."

"Like, oh I don't know, _people dying?_ " Neva said bluntly, raising a brow. The only reason anyone from the academy went on missions to abandoned cities and towns was because something caused a whole lot of trouble that usually resulted in death. Was it morbid? Yes, but it was the hard truth.

"... Yeah, like that," Addison continued. "This place doesn't...it doesn't feel like that. It just feels...sad. Like it's been forgotten… _forsaken_ … I-I don't know if that makes sense, but..."

"No, I get it," the weapon replied, glancing the very out of place bikini ad that was set up on one of the buildings. They highly doubted anyone could be "beach ready" in this weather. "I wonder what caused everyone to up and leave..."

"Government cover up?" Addison offered. "They probably realized it was too dangerous to build here and decided to wipe any traces of who they were. You saw what happened as soon as we started climbing."

Neva shrugged, lazily grinning. "Eh, I bet it was a monster or something, like a yeti. Shinigami-sama sent us here for a reason, maybe that's it. But, that's just a theory..."

". _.. A game theory!_ " Addison grinned back. " _Thanks for watching!_ "

There was a beat of silence, before the weapon and meister burst into laughter.

"H-How the _fuck_ do we even g-get anything done on missions," Addison wheezed, clutching her stomach. "We're way too goofy for our o-own good!"

"No fucking clue," Neva replied. "O-Ok, but for real though, it probably they probably just realized it wasn't worth the risk like you said. I, for one, wouldn't want to live with the constant threat of avalanches hanging over my head."

Addison nodded. "Either way, this is one investment they probably won't recover from."

" _Definitely_ ," the weapon replied. "You don't get this far into building an entire city without losing a whole lot of money. They did a pretty good job at covering themselves up."

"Honestly, I wonder... if..." The girl paused, noticing something poking out from an alleyway. She broke away from her partner to see what it was.

Neva furrowed their brows. "You find something?"

The meister crouched, appearing to look at something, before she jogged back to the weapon with something in her hand. "Niv, look at this!"

"Holy _shit_ ," they gasped. "Is that..?"

In the girl's hand was a strawberry. It was about the size of her palm, and was a bright red color that was a stark contrast to all the man-made blues and greys of the city.

"It _is_ ," Addison said excitedly. "There's a plant growing down there, and there's at least two more that are just as big as this one!"

Neva immediately went to go look for themselves, and sure enough, a small strawberry bush was growing out from between the cracks in the ground. "How is this even possible?" they asked, eyes blown wide. "Strawberries can't grow in winter, and even if they can I don't think they get that big!" There was a pause. "... I'm going to try one."

"Oh my Death. _Do it._ "

The weapon gave their meister an amused smirk, crouching down to pluck another berry off the plant. "I feel like I should be concerned you _actively_ want me to do this."

The girl just shrugged. "Hey, we've done stupider things while on missions, eating 'mysterious mountain strawberries' seems pretty tame to me."

"Fair point," Neva chuckled. They then glanced down at the berry, before looking back at Addison and quirking a brow. "If I get poisoned and die because of this thing, I'm haunting you for the rest of your life."

"Wouldn't have it any other way!" she laughed.

The weapon just rolled their eyes before taking a bite out of the strawberry, eyes going comically wide. "Oh my _Death_ ," they eventually moaned, wiping away some of the excess juice. "Adds, you _need_ to try one of these things."

Addison immediately took a bite out the strawberry she had plucked earlier, following Neva's example. The flavor explosion was immediate. It had the perfect amount of sweetness, with the slight tanginess that a ripe strawberry should have. "Holy shit...this is like, everything you want in a strawberry but ten times better!"

"I know right!?" Neva exclaimed, taking another bite. "I didn't think strawberries could be this... well, _strawberry!_ "

"I wonder if there's any more further up the mountain," Addison mused.

"Who knows," the weapon shrugged. "I honestly wouldn't be too surprised if there were. I guess we'll have to keep an eye out."

"Definitely," the meister agreed. "These things are way too good to ignore!"

* * *

The half-finished apartment complex the duo found themselves in was surprisingly boring, despite being covered in snow and abandoned. None of the rooms had been furnished, much like the rest of the city's buildings, and there were no signs of any strawberries, so there was really nothing to do except climb and talk. Thankfully it wasn't too difficult, as it seemed to lead right up to where they needed to go.

Addison grabbed Neva's hand, stumbling somewhat as she pulled her partner up the ledge with a grunt. "Looks like we finally made it to the Old Site," she mumbled.

The Old Site was definitely... old. It was an old castle, most likely a fortress of some kind, clearly older than the city the duo had just traversed. The walls were crumbling, much of the rubble littering the outside of the site. Yet despite this, the old castle still stood tall.

A large monument appearing to be made of granite sat a little bit away from the Old Site. The duo stepped up to the headstone, frowning.

"'This memorial is dedicated to those who perished on the climb...'" Addison read off. "...Oh boy."

Neva frowned. "Well _that_ certainly sparks confidence."

"I-I'm sure we'll be fine," Addison mumbled. She didn't exactly want to think about the implications of the stone anymore than she had too. There was no concrete number, no names, no definitive marker of just _how many_ people died while climbing this mountain. Had they been workers from the city? Average people looking for a challenge? _Meisters from the academy that were sent on a similar mission?_ She didn't know, and she likely never would.

"We should... probably find a place to set up camp," she eventually said, glancing at the quickly setting sun. "It's nearly dark, and I don't think it'll be safe to continue climbing at night."

Neva nodded. "Right. I think we might be able to set up in that old castle. It'll be a lot easier than pitching a tent now, plus it should give us a bit more shelter from the snow. There's probably something we can use in there to start a fire too."

"Sounds good," Addison replied. "Shelter or not, we're going to need more than a sleeping bag to keep ourselves warm."

The inside of the Old Site, surprisingly, wasn't as bad as the outside. Sure, it was dusty, and there was some rubble littering the floor, but it was still fairly sheltered from the elements. It didn't take long to find some firewood, and now a crackling fire was set up in the middle of the room they had decided to camp in.

Neva had fallen asleep awhile ago, their soft breathing echoing through the room. Addison was still wide awake. She tossed and turned, letting out a quiet huff. "Come _on_ ," she mumbled. "I can't go out there and climb to tire myself out, it's not safe. Just let me sleep for once..."

 _It won't be safe even during the day,_ the voice in the back of her head, which had been quiet until now, spoke up. _You saw that monument. We're going to die and it'll be all because you were too stubborn to admit **we can't handle this.**_

Addison frowned. No, they _could_ handle this. She... she needed to prove to herself that they can handle this.

 _Like you've handled all your other missions sooo well,_ the voice hissed. _You know I'm right._

She'd... what? No... she'd handled the previous missions she'd been on just fine! Sure, she's gotten injured, or made a couple mistakes, but that was just part of the job! She was a perfectly capable meister.

... Right?

Trying to block the voice out, and uncertainty settling in the pit of her stomach, Addison slowly began to doze off, lulled to sleep by the crackling of the flames as the dusty walls of the Old Site loomed above her. As the wind howled outside the fortress, one final thought floated through the girl's mind.

_This... might have been a mistake._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow okay this chapter took me way longer than I would have liked to finish, but it's done now so woo!!! It was kinda difficult to figure out how to write Celeste so it's not... you know, covered in spikes like the game. Next stop is the Old Site, and hoo boy it sounds like Addie's little voice is getting a bit frustrated. 
> 
> There is absolutely no way this can go wrong.


End file.
